Young Friends

The Young Friends of the Salzburg Festival is an association of teenagers and young adults interested in culture. They are part of the Association of Friends of the Salzburg Festival. Due to heavy demand, during the past years, the association has also offered programs aimed at children between 6 and 14.
The participants of the events explore the program of the Salzburg Festival intensively. The focus is not just on individual works and their performers, but also on “Festival life” in all of its many facets. It turns out that young people don’t just “consume” a theater, opera or concert performance, but experience it much more intensively and enduringly in every way if they have prepared in advance for the topics and have been in contact with the people who create art. It is especially important to us to create an awareness of the overall functioning of the festival, theater and art process. Therefore, as one of the oldest and largest cultural youth associations in Europe, we seek the dialogue with those responsible for the festival productions (such as dramaturgical staff, set and costume designers, concertmasters, lighting designers) on the one hand, but on the other, we present all those who ensure that the rehearsals and performances go smoothly (such as assistants, stage managers, technical staff and prop masters).
Apart from attending performances (with introductory programs), visiting rehearsals is another pillar of our work. Conversations, guided tours and visits, workshops and discussion groups complete our program.
Another goals of the Young Friends is to bring young people with a passion for theater together in Salzburg, thereby creating a platform for discussion between future audiences and future artists.

Become a member of the Association of Young Friends of the Salzburg Festival and experience workshops, introductory lectures, artist conversations, rehearsal visits and backstage tours.

As a member of the Young Friends you can attend all the events that are planned as part of the Friends’ summer programme. You also have the opportunity to apply for tickets from the Young Friends’ Festival allocation at a special discount.

Thus, Fiorello invites the musicians to accompany Count Almaviva during his serenade at the very beginning of the opera The Barber of Seville. And thus, we invite our young friends to discover the Salzburg Festival as THE place where everyone can join in!
On the one hand, we wish to awaken our young audience to the world of theatre, of opera and classical music – a world full of adventure, imagination and sound, where magical moments wait to be experienced. Specially developed performance formats, workshops, opera camps, youth tickets at reduced prices, student projects and age-appropriate introductory events for children and young people are all designed to spark and nurture an enjoyment and understanding of music and theatre.
On the other hand, we also wish to actively support young artists. The Salzburg Festival is an accelerator and launch-pad for artistic careers, but also offers the space and time for very different artist characters to unfold gradually. This important responsibility is addressed by our Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children’s Choir, the Young Singers Project and the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, all of which present numerous public concerts and master classes.
Our favourite goal is to create those happy moments in which both groups – young artists and young audience members – meet and give each other the gift of unique experiences: for example when members of the Young Singers Project win the hearts of their young audiences by performing this year’s children’s opera The Barber of Seville, and when those young audience members motivate the performers to give their very best.
There is much to discover at the Salzburg Festival, and we are delighted to present the following children’s and youth programme for the 2015 season to you. May it spark joy and enthusiasm for opera, concerts and drama!